Methods for identifying and removing an oxide-induced dead zone in a semiconductor device structure

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following summary of the invention is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the innovative features unique to the present invention and is not intended to be a full description.
A full appreciation of the various aspects of the invention can be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole.
It is, therefore, one aspect of the present to provide an improved semiconductor device structure.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide an improved vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL).
It is also another aspect of the present invention to provide an improved oxide VCSEL.
It is yet another aspect of the present invention to provide a method and system for evaluating VCSEL devices for performance optimization thereof.
It is still another aspect of the present invention to provide a VCSEL structure having an oxide-induced dead zone.
It is also an aspect of the present invention to provide a thermal annealing process to remove an oxide-induced dead zone of a VCSEL structure and thereby provide consistent fabrication, testing and reliability of oxide VCSEL devices.
The above and other aspects can be achieved as is now described.
A method for removing an oxide-induced dead zone in a semiconductor device structure is disclosed herein.
In general, a semiconductor device structure can be formed having at least one oxide layer and an oxide-induced dead zone thereof.
A thermal annealing operation can then be performed upon the semiconductor device structure to remove the oxide-induced dead zone, thereby permitting oxide semiconductor device structures thereof to be reliably and consistently fabricated.
An oxidation operation may initially be performed upon the semiconductor device structure to form the oxide layer and the associated oxide-induced dead zone.
The thermal annealing operation is preferably performed upon the semiconductor device after performing a wet oxidation operation or similar operation upon the semiconductor device structure